Seeking bidders: Monnet Power’s put on the block again

Monnet Power, promoted by the Jajodia family, is up for sale. Monnet Power is an 88% subsidiary of Monnet Ispat, which has been bid for and won under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process by the JSW Steel-Aion Investments combine.

Lenders have been looking to sell Monnet Power for a couple of years now and had mandated SBI Capital Markets to come up with a buyer.

Monnet Power, promoted by the Jajodia family, is up for sale. Monnet Power is an 88% subsidiary of Monnet Ispat, which has been bid for and won under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process by the JSW Steel-Aion Investments combine. The transaction is awaiting the approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

As part of the corporate insolvency resolution process, the resolution professional (RP) for Monnet Power on Thursday sought expressions of interest (EoIs) from interested bidders, according to an advertisement. In February this year, the Mumbai bench of the NCLT had admitted an application from IDFC Bank to initiate insolvency proceedings. The tribunal had appointed Navneet Kumar Gupta as the RP.

The power producer has received claims worth Rs 7,653 crore from all creditors — financial, operational and related parties — of which the RP had admitted claims of Rs 6,252 crore as on April 25, 2018. Of this, Rs 5,892 crore are dues to the company’s lenders and Rs 360 crore to operational creditors. Lenders to the company include Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and IDFC Bank.

“As per the provisions of Section 25(2)(h) of the IBC, the resolution professional hereby invited expressions of interest from all interested (‘prospective resolution applicants’) to submit resolution plans for the corporate debtor,” the RP said, adding that interested applicants are required to submit an unconditional undertaking along with the EoIs to confirm their eligibility to submit a resolution plan under Section 29A of the IBC.

Lenders have been looking to sell Monnet Power for a couple of years now and had mandated SBI Capital Markets to come up with a buyer. According to a document seeking bids for the company in 2016, the project, a 1,050 MW (2×525 MW) thermal power project located in Odisha, was 66% complete and as of March 2015, the total expenditure incurred was Rs 5,534 crore (funded by Rs 976 crore of equity and Rs 4,081 crore of debt).

The document also noted the long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) for 371 MW has been signed with PTC India (back-to-back power sale agreement or PSA with West Bengal State Electricity Distribution) at a levellised tariff of Rs. 3.10 per unit. The PPA for 212 MW has also been signed with PTC India at a tariff of Rs 2.55 per unit for first five years and reducing thereafter (there is no back-to-back PSA for this).

In 2016, led by IDFC Bank, a consortium of 25 lenders to Monnet Power had tried to change its management under the Reserve Bank of India’s strategic debt restructuring norms and sought bids to sell up to 51% equity in the company.